Streaming Window, Washington, D.C. 1972

Nancy Rexroth made this photograph, Streaming Window, Washington, D.C., using a Diana camera, a simple plastic camera. The image has this lovely, soft-focus quality and warm brown tone, which gives it an intimate, dreamy feel, like a memory fading at the edges. There's a beautiful tension here between clarity and blurriness. You can make out the architectural details of the room, the walls, the ceiling, but then the light, oh, the light, it's all blurry streaks, like the window is crying tears of light. It reminds me of Gerhard Richter's blurry paintings, where he's trying to capture the way we actually see, not a sharp, photographic reality, but something much more fluid and subjective. That streak of light across the bottom half of the image, it's like a gesture, a brushstroke of light. It's not just about what's being depicted, but about the act of seeing itself. It's the kind of image that invites you to slow down, to get lost in the moment, and to appreciate the beauty of imperfection.